Gordon Elliott (racehorse trainer)

Gordon Elliott is a County Meath-based National Hunt racehorse trainer^[1] who was 29 when his first Grand National entry, the 33 to 1 outsider^[2] Silver Birch won the 2007 race on 14 April, 2007. Owned by Brian Walsh of County Kildare, and ridden by Robbie Power , the horse held off McKelvey ^[3] and Slim Pickings to win the legendary Aintree Racecourse event.^[4]

The 14th April 2007 saw Gordon Elliott become the youngest ever trainer to win the world's most prestigious steeplechase, the Aintree Grand National.The horse, Silver Birch, was bought from Paul Nicholls. Despite having won the Grand National, Gordon had not at that stage trained a winner on the track back home in Ireland.

Elliott won another major handicap race in Britain in August 2010 when Dirar won the Ebor Handicap at York Racecourse.^[5]

At the age of thirteen Gordon first entered the racing world, working for Tony Martin at weekends and holidays. This developed into a full time job as soon as he could leave school. Taking out his amateur licence at sixteen, Gordon's first winner came in a bumper at Ballinrobe on board Caitriona's Choice, trained by Michael Cunningham for whom Gordon would go on to ride many winners.

As a jockey Gordon achieved great success, notably two winners at Cheltenham, the Punchestown Champion Bumper and five winners in the US.

References

1. ^ Robson, Nick (2007-04-14). "ELLIOTT BULLISH OVER BIRCH CHANCE". sportinglife.com. http://www.sportinglife.com/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=racing/07/04/11/RACING_Birch.html. Retrieved 2007-04-14. 
2. ^

   Simon Hart Few Clues to "sick a pin in" winner" Sunday Telegraph(Sports Section p13)15th April 2007: If yesterday was all about Walsh's eye for a bargain and the skill of Power and trainer Gordon Elliott in getting the most out of unfulfilled talent, it was also about the failures of the far-more fancied runners with bigger stories to tell.

3. ^ MCKELVEY was the only horse to be put down in the 2008 Grand National
4. ^ Palmer, Justin (2007-04-14). "Silver Birch wins Grand National thriller". Guardian Unlimited. http://sport.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-6557577,00.html. Retrieved 2007-04-14. 
5. ^ "Dirar wins Ebor Handicap at York". BBC Sport. 2010-08-18. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/8921225.stm. Retrieved 2010-8-21. 

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Name	Elliott, Gordon
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